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Shirley Willett, class of 1955 (Fashion Design and Illustration), is known
for producing affordable, high-quality pieces through rigorous pattern
engineering. Willett returned to MassArt as a faculty member, and served
as Chair of the Fashion Design Department from 1966 to 1968. In 2018,
she wrote Past, Present, Future: Fashion Memoir, 70 Years of Design,
Education, Engineering, Manufacturing and Technology. Displayed on the
mannequin is Willett’s 1968 ball coat, helmet hat, and boot-tops.
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One of Boston’s premier fashion designers was Alfred Fiandaca, class of
1958 (Painting and Illustration). He returned to the College in the 1960s
to teach in the Fashion Design Department, soon after establishing his
Newbury Street atelier. He hosted MassArt interns at his workrooms in
Boston, New York and Palm Beach. His designs were worn by celebrities
and public figures to the Academy Awards, the Boston Ballet, on screen,
and everywhere in between. Notable customers included Audrey
Hepburn, Julie Andrews, Louise Fletcher, Joan Kennedy, Nancy Reagan,
and Ann Romney. The piece displayed is a silk chiffon dress and shawl
created by Fiandaca in the 1990s.
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Albert Munsell, class of 1881, earned his certifications at the Massachusetts
Normal Art School (MNAS). They were in Elementary Drawing; Form, Color,
and Industrial Design; the Constructive Arts; and Sculpture and Design
in the Round-Modeling and Casting. He was a painter, longtime faculty
member of MNAS, author, and innovator. His inventions included an artist’s
easel, photometer, Munsell crayons, and the Color-Sphere and mount.
Munsell developed this 3-dimensional model for organizing and describing
color. Because he developed it on the basis of perception, not physics or
chemistry, Munsell’s Color System became arguably the most effective
system for organizing color ever invented. His work would influence the
“Color Standard for Frozen French Fried Potatoes” in 1966, to ensure
optimal enjoyment by customers. That is just one example. Users of his
Color System have included NASA, the U.S. Bureau of Standards, Microsoft,
Apple, Hershey, Coors Brewery, Toro, and the government of Japan, to
name only a few.